Hot enough for you? Important info about playing in the heat

With all high school football teams on the field this week, and with soccer and the rest of the fall sports to follow this weekend, it seems to be a good time to offer some information about playing in hot conditions.

The forecast for this week doesn’t seem that extreme, but the combination of sun and humidity can affect young people in vastly different ways, so what might not seem to be a dangerous situation can quickly become one.

With heat-related sickness in the news more of late, athlettes, coaches and parents should be aware of this issue.

The report was published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. It is based on data for the 2005-2009 seasons provided by the National High School Sports-Related Surveillance Survey Study.

There is a greater sensitivity to this issue now, with high profile cases such as the high school football player in Kentucky who died after practicing in high heat and the tragic death of Minnesota Vikings player Korey Stringer in 2001. That case eventually led to the creation of the Stringer Institute at UConn, where research is done on hydration and the effects of heat on athletes.

What did the CDC study tell us:

While over 70 percent of the heat-related problems in high school sports happened to football players, 70 percent of those happened during practice and two-thirds of that total was in August.

Also, 37 percent of the heat illnesses happened to football players considered ‘overweight’ based on their Body Mass Index.

CDC reported that 31 high school football players have died of heat stroke since 1995.

To avoid problems with playing in the heat, the report stresses proper hydration and a gradual acclimatization period to the heat.